3 ms·

Will these be available for workstations in two or more configs? Also, what's the situation with AMD and Thunderbolt? Does that exist at all?

tutanchamun 9y ago
Threadripper (16c/32t, quad channel memory, 44? PCIe 3.0 lanes) will probably be the Workstation platform. Wouldn't AMD need to license Thunderbolt from Intel? There are repeatedly rumors about a license agreement between Intel and AMD regarding AMDs GPU IP, if that is true maybe they get access to Thunderbolt.
- Teknoman117 9y ago
  Do you need to license Thunderbolt to use it? I thought you just had to buy their transceiver chips (which just hang off a PCIe3 x4 interconnect).
  - wmf 9y ago
    Intel is refusing to sell the chips unless you swear undying loyalty to Intel.
    - foota 9y ago
      That's not at all anticompetitive
      - Dylan16807 9y ago
        It's pretty terrible. You're just unable to make certain kinds of devices on what should be a super generic pci-e extender.
    - astrodust 9y ago
      It's a dark ritual that involves men in robes and drinking out of Andy Grove's skull no doubt.
  - Sanddancer 9y ago
    You have to sign lots of NDAs and other docs, give company details, describe the product you want to develop, just to get a look at the datasheets [1]. To put that in perspective, the datasheets for their latest and greatest processors are very readily available [2]. Thunderbolt is very much an intel only game. I really wish that the PCI-SIG had gotten an open standard for external PCIe out, it would have been rather useful. [1] https://thunderbolttechnology.net/contact/thunderbolt-developer https://thunderbolttechnology.net/contact/thunderbolt-develo... [2] http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/xeon/xeon-technical-resources.html http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/xeon/xeon-...
    - chx 9y ago
      The PCIe SIG released relevant cabling ten years ago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#PCI_Express_External_Cabling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#PCI_Express_Extern... and noone bought it. Molex has it: http://www.molex.com/molex/products/family?key=external_pci_express_pcie http://www.molex.com/molex/products/family?key=external_pci_...
  - spamizbad 9y ago
    You do, but part of that license is validating it works and it's not cheap. It's part of the reason why thunderbolt cables are so expensive compared to their alternatives.

tutanchamun 9y ago

Threadripper (16c/32t, quad channel memory, 44? PCIe 3.0 lanes) will probably be the Workstation platform. Wouldn't AMD need to license Thunderbolt from Intel? There are repeatedly rumors about a license agreement between Intel and AMD regarding AMDs GPU IP, if that is true maybe they get access to Thunderbolt.

Teknoman117 9y ago
Do you need to license Thunderbolt to use it? I thought you just had to buy their transceiver chips (which just hang off a PCIe3 x4 interconnect).
- wmf 9y ago
  Intel is refusing to sell the chips unless you swear undying loyalty to Intel.
  - foota 9y ago
    That's not at all anticompetitive
    - Dylan16807 9y ago
      It's pretty terrible. You're just unable to make certain kinds of devices on what should be a super generic pci-e extender.
  - astrodust 9y ago
    It's a dark ritual that involves men in robes and drinking out of Andy Grove's skull no doubt.
- Sanddancer 9y ago
  You have to sign lots of NDAs and other docs, give company details, describe the product you want to develop, just to get a look at the datasheets [1]. To put that in perspective, the datasheets for their latest and greatest processors are very readily available [2]. Thunderbolt is very much an intel only game. I really wish that the PCI-SIG had gotten an open standard for external PCIe out, it would have been rather useful. [1] https://thunderbolttechnology.net/contact/thunderbolt-developer https://thunderbolttechnology.net/contact/thunderbolt-develo... [2] http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/xeon/xeon-technical-resources.html http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/xeon/xeon-...
  - chx 9y ago
    The PCIe SIG released relevant cabling ten years ago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#PCI_Express_External_Cabling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#PCI_Express_Extern... and noone bought it. Molex has it: http://www.molex.com/molex/products/family?key=external_pci_express_pcie http://www.molex.com/molex/products/family?key=external_pci_...
- spamizbad 9y ago
  You do, but part of that license is validating it works and it's not cheap. It's part of the reason why thunderbolt cables are so expensive compared to their alternatives.